BENGALURU: A special court on Saturday sentenced seven accused, including Karwar Congress MLA Satish Krishna Sail, to undergo a maximum of seven years of rigorous imprisonment each in six cases concerning illegal extraction and transportation of iron ore.
All the accused have to undergo 42 years of RI in six cases and pay fines of around Rs 45 crore. This is the first order sentencing the accused in illegal mining cases in the state.
The sentenced are the then deputy conservator of port Mahesh J Biliye (now retired); Sail, managing director of Sree Mallikarjun Shipping Private Ltd; Chethan Shah, managing director of M/s Ashapur Menechem; KV Nagaraj, director of M/s Swastik Steels (Hospet) Private Ltd; KV Govindaraj, former director of M/s Swastik Steels; Mahesh Kumar K alias Kharapudi Mahesh, partner of Shri Lakshmi Venkateshwara Minerals; and Prem Chand Garg, managing director of Shri Lal Mahal Ltd. M/s ILC Industries Ltd., and M/s PJS Overseas Ltd., were also sentenced. Since the companies are legal entities, and hence, their representatives cannot be sentenced for corporeal punishment, the court ordered them to pay part of around Rs 45 crore fine.
Mining case: Sentences must run concurrently, says court
Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, Judge of the special court to try cases against sitting and former MPs/MLAs, pronounced the quantum of punishment in all the cases.
The court ordered that the sentence imposed under each offence should run concurrently and the accused shall be entitled for the period of set off as contemplated under Section 428 of CrPC, for the period of detention they have already undergone, if any, as undertrial prisoners in these cases.
Though the court stated that the sentences for different offences in each case run currently, it has not passed an order that all the sentences in six cases should run concurrently.
Therefore, the convicted can move the special court or the high court to order that all the sentences run concurrently.
Acting under Section 357(A) of CrPC, the court said compensation should be paid to the victim -- the state -- and hence, the entire penalty amount should be forfeited to the state. The accused were sentenced under the provisions of 120 (B), 420, 409 of IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.